Exercise is good for the body but many people often tend to go overboard in their enthusiasm when they start a new fitness regime. They do it without any breaks. A report that appeared in The Conversation, stressed on the importance of taking rest or a break while you exercise.
Why is rest important between workouts?
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- To allow the body’s muscles to recover from any damage they’ve sustained during workouts, and to allow them to grow
- Rest days play an important role in helping to maintain good health and fitness
- Rest and recovery between workouts are both necessary for helping the body to adapt and recuperate from the last workout
- Exercise requires us to use our body’s energy stores (primarily carbohydrates) and fluids (in producing sweat), so rest and recovery give the body time to replenish these energy stores
- The body needs at least 24 hours to fully replace our muscle’s store of carbohydrates. Maintaining an adequate store of muscle glycogen (the body’s store of carbohydrate), is important for training and maintaining stable blood sugar levels
- The body requires several hours of rest following exercise to maintain hydration due to the continued production of urine
- Training may also damage the body’s tissues. Under some circumstances, this damage can be beneficial but is not an essential part of building muscle
- The body requires a longer rest period to build muscle tissue (protein synthesis)
Sleep is also important
- Sleep deprivation and disturbed rest affect exercise performance and physical and psychological function.
- One day’s rest per week is good for repairing tissues, building and adapting skeletal muscle, and restoring fuel reserves and also to reduce mental stress.
- Taking a rest day is as important for progress and fitness as exercise itself.
